For many flavor companies, the days of serving clients by simply delivering a new strawberry flavor are over. Today, customers require their suppliers to provide complex flavor and food systems and even complete product prototypes. This is particularly true in the bakery and cereal segments.

One of the reasons for this change is that consumer product companies are no longer looking merely to add line extensions or “make the grocery aisle any longer,” as T.J. Widuch, executive vice president and head of the grains team at FONA International, puts it.

“There has to be a value added in terms of those deliverables,” says Widuch. “Those could be added ingredients [such as] protein, fiber and whole grains. Those could be what is taken away, a cleaner label statement.” (See: Whole-grain Challenges.)